Last night I lost it; more so than I ever have in the gym. It reminded me of the SuperFit Games last January, when I just had zero ability to execute a specific movement, forcing me to DNF the workout. But this time around it was a bit different. I expected to perform, and I did not. It was an epic failure and it allowed me to grow more in the gym then I have in the past few weeks combined. If I am living on the edge at all times, last night I tripped over the edge. Thankfully I was able to grab an overhanging branch and get back up to that edge, and because of that I am a better man. I'll go into a little detail here, but I am in the process of writing a big article on failure.
I personally "enjoy" failure. I feel that without it, we fail to stay humble and keep an objective, critical perspective on what we are doing. Failing pisses me off, angers me, completely humiliates and crushes me; but in the end, when I am able to sit down and look back at what just happened, I can take a better view of it. I instantaneously have a massive amount of data that allows me to analyze whether or not my programming is as effective as it could be. I am able to honestly see my weaknesses and assess the best way to go about making them, well, not my weaknesses anymore. I'm not going to lie, having this point of view is not as easy as it might appear with me writing it. Most of the time this does not occur to me right after the workout is over. I generally have a handful of depressing, negative thoughts like: "I am horrible at this", "I should just quit", "I want a large pizza and ten beers". But the more I experience failure, the more I push myself to my physical limits, and I am able see the positive side of things so much quicker.
So, after a tough day, I woke up today ready to pick things up. I went to the pool for a 1200 meter anyhow workout. Still not very impressive by any means, but I feel a ton better than last time. My hope is that getting in the water as often as I plan in the coming months will result in very quick gains. Later on, Lindsey met me at the gym and I put together a confusing chipper. I say this because it was filled with tons of variations of common CrossFit exercises. I have been noticing lately that CrossFit is getting more and more strict about how things are performed: games style push ups, palms out muscle ups, heel on box box jumps, and on and on. While I am not necessarily opposed to this, I miss the concept of complete unconventionality. Why does a wall ball HAVE to be 10 feet? Why aren't two exercises combined? Why can't a plyo box, or a KB, or a bar or anything, be used for a totally different reason than generally prescribed? I totally understand having standards to all exercises, but why can't the standards be different on a regular, or random basis. CrossFit calls for the unknown and unknowable, so, I enjoy sticking to that here and there. Expect to see some of that in February by the way...(you'll know what I'm talking about very soon!).
For time do:
3 x 6 pull ups to 6 toes to bar (unbroken you just perform 6 of each back and forth for three rounds)
20 wall balls to a 15 foot target 20#
50 air squats
20 KB snatches each arm 53#
100 double unders
20 GHD back extensions
50 walking lunges (total steps)
20 jump overs 24" box (just jump over it, turn around, jump back over it)
12 pull ups to crawl-unders (I secured a PVC pipe in my 16" plyo boxes with sandbags. Perform a pull ups, crawl under the PVC, that's one rep)
I completed this in 13:36 and was done. My back and neck were so tight after yesterday's debacle with HSPUs that once I hit the KB snatches, I started to tense up a bit. The back extensions and finally the crawl-unders were a deadly combo. I probably would have enjoyed this a bit more had I not been so tight; but, it was a total blast. My mind was racing because I was able to recognize everything I was doing, but something was off, just slightly. Pretty cool. I strongly suggest doing this sort of thing at least once or twice a month, just to keep the body guessing.
Video is being edited...
Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
I personally "enjoy" failure. I feel that without it, we fail to stay humble and keep an objective, critical perspective on what we are doing. Failing pisses me off, angers me, completely humiliates and crushes me; but in the end, when I am able to sit down and look back at what just happened, I can take a better view of it. I instantaneously have a massive amount of data that allows me to analyze whether or not my programming is as effective as it could be. I am able to honestly see my weaknesses and assess the best way to go about making them, well, not my weaknesses anymore. I'm not going to lie, having this point of view is not as easy as it might appear with me writing it. Most of the time this does not occur to me right after the workout is over. I generally have a handful of depressing, negative thoughts like: "I am horrible at this", "I should just quit", "I want a large pizza and ten beers". But the more I experience failure, the more I push myself to my physical limits, and I am able see the positive side of things so much quicker.
So, after a tough day, I woke up today ready to pick things up. I went to the pool for a 1200 meter anyhow workout. Still not very impressive by any means, but I feel a ton better than last time. My hope is that getting in the water as often as I plan in the coming months will result in very quick gains. Later on, Lindsey met me at the gym and I put together a confusing chipper. I say this because it was filled with tons of variations of common CrossFit exercises. I have been noticing lately that CrossFit is getting more and more strict about how things are performed: games style push ups, palms out muscle ups, heel on box box jumps, and on and on. While I am not necessarily opposed to this, I miss the concept of complete unconventionality. Why does a wall ball HAVE to be 10 feet? Why aren't two exercises combined? Why can't a plyo box, or a KB, or a bar or anything, be used for a totally different reason than generally prescribed? I totally understand having standards to all exercises, but why can't the standards be different on a regular, or random basis. CrossFit calls for the unknown and unknowable, so, I enjoy sticking to that here and there. Expect to see some of that in February by the way...(you'll know what I'm talking about very soon!).
For time do:
3 x 6 pull ups to 6 toes to bar (unbroken you just perform 6 of each back and forth for three rounds)
20 wall balls to a 15 foot target 20#
50 air squats
20 KB snatches each arm 53#
100 double unders
20 GHD back extensions
50 walking lunges (total steps)
20 jump overs 24" box (just jump over it, turn around, jump back over it)
12 pull ups to crawl-unders (I secured a PVC pipe in my 16" plyo boxes with sandbags. Perform a pull ups, crawl under the PVC, that's one rep)
I completed this in 13:36 and was done. My back and neck were so tight after yesterday's debacle with HSPUs that once I hit the KB snatches, I started to tense up a bit. The back extensions and finally the crawl-unders were a deadly combo. I probably would have enjoyed this a bit more had I not been so tight; but, it was a total blast. My mind was racing because I was able to recognize everything I was doing, but something was off, just slightly. Pretty cool. I strongly suggest doing this sort of thing at least once or twice a month, just to keep the body guessing.
Video is being edited...
Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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